


Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

by nevermindirah



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: (how is that not a tag?), Alternate Universe - Dog Walkers, BoNfire Week 2020, Dogs, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27934543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevermindirah/pseuds/nevermindirah
Summary: "Oh hello! Wow! You are such a good dog!"- dog walker to dog"Oh no you're hot"- internally, dog parent to dog walker and vice versa
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus: It's Mad Libs! See a word or phrase [in brackets]? Fill it in, choose your own adventure!
> 
> Title inspired by that time Jess on New Girl sobs in a job interview because she sees a picture of a puppy. #relatable

Ok so hear me out. Nile's new in town, she just started a new job, and the job is great and she loves her new boss and coworkers but it keeps her so busy that she isn't giving her sweet baby [insert dog name here] as much attention as he needs. They used to go for hour-long runs every day and she just, she doesn't have time.

Nile works from home two days a week, and in theory she could spend a little more time with [dog] on those days, but it's just not happening. Her poor baby! She needs to get him a dog walker for weekdays so he can get enough love and attention and cuddles and pets and walks and runs and ball chases and — yep, looking up dog walkers now.

Fast forward, it's day four of [dog] getting an hour of daily quality time with the new walker, her first work-from-home day. She hears the spare key jangling in her front door and [dog] flips his shit, he's so excited to see the dog walker, it's the cutest thing (and reassuring that this stranger she's never met is someone [dog] likes). If she weren't on the phone she'd take a video of [dog] flipping out—

Oh no, the dog walker is hot.

Like, gorgeous. Like an actual model is in her home, and she's dressed to the nines from the waist up where people can see her on video conferences but from the waist down it's an embarrassing tattered sweatpants and fuzzy slippers situation.

This very pretty person is kneeling on her floor and letting her dog slobber all over him. He _makes eye contact with her_ as he is kneeling on her floor looking delighted that her dog is licking him _approximately as thoroughly as she wants to_.

Her boss prompts her over the phone, oh shit, they'd been waiting for her to respond about [whatever job thing], and here she is staring slack-jawed at the dog walker who she is _paying_ , who is in her apartment _to do his job_.

The dog walker gets [dog's] harness and leash on — with zero barks, damn, nice work — and throws her a little smile and wave as he heads out the door.

Nile makes a point to not be on the phone when they get back from their walk. She introduces herself, says thank you for taking such good care of [dog], the dog walker tells her he goes by Booker, they chat for a few minutes about [dog], he leaves presumably for his next client.

She may or may not dress up a little more than usual when she works from home again the next day.

Quick POV switch: It's been a rough few months for Booker, but things are starting to level out. He's a month into working with a therapist he trusts, all the exercise and sunshine from dog walking is really helping, he doesn't know what his life is gonna look like in a year but for now he's ok.

The dog walking company he works for assigns him a new client, a gorgeous [description of dog] named [dog] whose owner started a new job recently and wants to make sure her baby is getting enough exercise. Hour-long walks pay particularly well and it sounds like this owner gives a shit.

This dog is AWESOME, he listens, he's the CUTEST, and he and Booker really vibe.

Then on his fourth appointment with [dog] he meets the owner— _oh no she's hot_. Like ethereal goddess hot. And she sounds competent AF on her work phone call, it's _the sexiest thing_ , no stop that _she is paying you to walk her dog not to ogle her in her own home_.

Oh no they're making eye contact, he probably just let her dog lick inside his nostril or something and he can't look away from her this is so awkward get the fuck out of there already you dumbass let her do her job and go do yours don't make this any weirder than it already probably is.

Back to Narrator / Nile POV: As the weeks pass they chat more after walks — at least when she's not on the goddamn phone ugh she should mark herself unavailable during this window so people stop scheduling her for meetings she's only going to get distracted from. She really likes talking to Booker, and it doesn't seem like he feels held hostage by their conversations, but still, power dynamic, it would be fucked up for her to try hitting on him.

She definitely doesn't do anything so ridiculous as wear stilettos at her standing desk while working from home by herself, nope, she definitely doesn't do that. She... might put a bisexual pride flag in a prominent location on her desk where he'll definitely see it.

Anyway Nile's new job is with Andy, Quỳnh, Joe, and Nicky, and a few months ago they had to fire Booker for [insert betrayal here], so Booker is walking dogs to pay the bills and for crucial depression-fighting dopamine. Nile has no idea that the hot dog walker is the person who left under mysterious circumstances shortly before she got there, she just knows that sometimes the name Sébastien le Livre shows up in old email chains and google docs and her coworkers comment darkly about him to each other but won't tell her what happened.

Nile is obsessed with her precious baby sweet pile of fluff. She's got pictures of him all over her desk at work, he's in her profile pic on her work email account, she's constantly showing the team videos of his antics like "look how cute he is THIS time it's even cuter than the one I showed you yesterday."

Quỳnh hates Booker a little less than the others, and 6 months after the firing, she asks him to meet up. They chat, it's nice, he apologizes for [betrayal] and asks her about her life and tells her about what he's been up to (mostly therapy and dog walking). He shows her pictures of his favorite clients — including Nile's sweet pile of fluff who Quỳnh would recognize a.ny.where because seriously Nile is OBSESSED with this dog. Booker blushes when he mentions [dog's] mom is sometimes home when he goes to walk [dog] and chatting with her is one of the highlights of his week. Quỳnh smells blood in the water.

Quỳnh invites Nile out for drinks, but oh whoops, she must've double-booked herself, Booker shows up too! Oh no she TRIPLE booked herself, so silly of her, she's got to run, but it seems like you two already know each other! How about that! Why don't you two stay and enjoy the night without me and we'll see each other another time ;) ;)

Booker comes clean that yes he is in fact the Sébastien le Livre whose name she's seen viciously crossed out of various documents at [Andy's firm], and he's been walking dogs as part of getting his life together after [the dumb/shitty thing].

Nile is all "oh shit, I've been going on and on at work about how I have a crush on my dog walker, Quỳnh must hate me" — and then she's doubly oh shit, because SHE SAID THAT OUT LOUD

Oh that's how it is? Ok, Booker can roll with this. "Quỳnh miiiiiiight hate you, because she definitely hates me, and she definitely set this up so we could spend time with each other where you're not paying me. I guess whether she hates you or not depends on whether you're mad about that" ;) ;)

Ok, hot dog walker's got game. Nile has follow-up questions about [the betrayal] but no need to start there. So she's all "[My precious baby] is an excellent judge of character, I'll get us another round."

And then they make out and fall in love and move in together and eventually Booker gets his job back but only part-time so he can continue to dote on [dog] the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Fill in your favorite [dog's name], [Andy's firm], and [Booker's betrayal] in the comments!
> 
> I made this Mad Libs because this idea came to me out of nowhere when I was procrastinating both Important Work Things and the final chapters of [my long plotty serious fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27315082) and then [THERE WAS A VIDEO OF MATTHIAS SCHOENAERTS KISSING A TINY PUPPY WHAT THE FUCK](https://nevermindirah.tumblr.com/post/636762292581711872/fincherspet-deadly-combo). This fic idea had to be expressed! And today is WIP amnesty day for [BoNfire Week](https://lady-writes.tumblr.com/post/635252449759854592/fa-lalalala-lalalala-since-december-is-pretty) and doing Mad Libs instead of spending days/weeks trying to make this A Complete Fic seemed like the wise move, so here ya go, *slides over to you a sad-looking slice of underbaked cake with too-sugary icing because it is still cake yay cake!*
> 
> My initial ideas for [dog's name], [Andy's firm], and [Booker's betrayal]:
> 
> [dog's name]: Bark Fluffalo
> 
> [Andy's firm]: Axe to Grind, a boutique weapons retailer specializing in blade and firearm design, sourcing, and restoration
> 
> [Booker's betrayal]: setting up a sting operation where he agrees to sell weapons to local Nazis in order to get the FBI to fucking do something about them instead of sitting on their hands, but he doesn't fucking tell anybody and things very nearly go EXTREMELY BADLY


End file.
